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Java Core (for beginners)
Control Structures
Conditional Statements

Conditional Statements

Conditional statements are used to perform different actions based on different conditions. They allow a program to take different paths during execution based on logical conditions.

 

if Statement

The if statement is used to execute a block of code only if a specified condition is true.

Syntax:

if (condition) {
    // Code to execute if condition is true
}

Example:

int number = 10;
if (number > 0) {
    System.out.println("The number is positive");
}

 

else Statement

The else statement is used with if to execute a block of code if the condition in the if statement is false.

Syntax:

if (condition) {
    // Code to execute if condition is true
} else {
    // Code to execute if condition is false
}

Example:

int number = -10;
if (number > 0) {
    System.out.println("The number is positive");
} else {
    System.out.println("The number is negative");
}

 

else if Statement

The else if statement allows you to test multiple conditions. If the first if condition is false, it checks the next else if condition. It can have multiple else if statements, and an optional else block for the default case.

Syntax:

if (condition1) {
    // Code to execute if condition1 is true
} else if (condition2) {
    // Code to execute if condition2 is true
} else {
    // Code to execute if none of the conditions are true
}

Example:

int number = 0;
if (number > 0) {
    System.out.println("The number is positive");
} else if (number < 0) {
    System.out.println("The number is negative");
} else {
    System.out.println("The number is zero");
}

 

switch Statement

The switch statement allows a variable to be tested for equality against a list of values, known as “cases”. When a match is found, the corresponding block of code is executed. The break statement is used to exit the switch after executing the matched case.

Syntax:

switch (expression) {
    case value1:
        // Code to execute if expression equals value1
        break;
    case value2:
        // Code to execute if expression equals value2
        break;
    default:
        // Code to execute if no cases match
}

Example:

int day = 2;
switch (day) {
    case 1:
        System.out.println("Sunday");
        break;
    case 2:
        System.out.println("Monday");
        break;
    case 3:
        System.out.println("Tuesday");
        break;
    default:
        System.out.println("Other day");
}
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